Monitoring interactions with your customers is essential to improving your customer experience. But no matter how good your monitoring efforts are, it is often difficult to capture the full voice of the customer. To do that, you must capture more than just the conversation which takes place at a point of transaction. To truly understand your customers and provide a superior customer experience, you need to invest in smart survey software which gives you a complete 360-degree picture of each customer.

Among the benefits, smart survey software enables you to:

Realize which customers produce the most profit

Collecting and analyzing buying behaviors and other customer data gives you a better understanding of who your best customers are. You can differentiate between the customers who provide the highest profit margins and those that simply bring you the most revenue, information that could be used to provide more relevant offers or a better tier of customer service. While there are numerous ways to segment customers based on survey results, one thing is for sure: segmenting has been proven to elevate both customer engagement and bottom line.

Analyze buying patterns

Better understanding of customer buying patterns can help you spot opportunities and make the most of each interaction with your customers, especially your most valuable ones. With 40% of consumers buying more from retailers who personalize the shopping experience across channels, it pays to know what your customers need and when they are most likely to need it, knowledge which can de gleaned with a few simple survey questions.

Maximize customer profits

Data gleaned from smart surveys can help you increase profits with each customer interaction. If you are carefully tracking your customers’ behaviors, it’s easier to know what they value and when. And, with this information, you are better poised to make recommendations which will keep them engaged, inspiring them spend more with your company. According to one study, personalization was responsible for 74% of first-time purchases and 78% of repeat purchases.

Improving Your CRM with Smart Surveys

An ongoing stream of customer feedback into a centralized, easily accessible CRM system makes it easier to stay on top of changes in the behaviors, wants, and needs of your customers. Steady customer feedback helps you to:

Gather and consolidate customer knowledge within your existing CRM

A centralized database which includes contact details and information about customer behaviors, attitudes and price sensitivity makes it easier for you to build more effective and predictive sales models and marketing campaigns that result in higher sales. And your efforts to increase individualization will, undoubtedly, pay off: 90% of marketers see personalization as their greatest selling strength, perhaps not surprising considering that customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than those who are not.

Proactively communicate with customers

Customers expect a lot these days, and one of those expectations is that businesses, whether big or small, interact with them on a regular basis. Staying in front of your customers and offering personalized interactions is critical. Mobile surveys are especially important in this regard. Deloitte reports that, as of 2015, 76% of adults own a smart phone so, consequently, mobile surveys experience a 98% greater open rate than desktop surveys.

Increase sales productivity and hit sales targets.

Mobile surveys gather information in real time which means that your sales staff has access, through a centralized CRM database, to valuable customer information whenever they need it. Studies show that access to real-time CRM software increases sales productivity by an average of 14.6%. As a result, the likelihood of your sales reps meeting their quotas significantly increases.

Creating the Perfect Responsive Survey

To design the perfect mobile survey, consider the following four points:

Stick to closed questions: mobile devices are more difficult to type with, so asking participants to respond at length to open-ended questions will also increase chances for respondent frustration and fatigue.

Group questions: too many clicks will increase load time – and fatigue - so, whenever possible, include as many subject-related questions as possible on the same screen.

Keep it clean: with limited space to work with, don’t clutter the screen with unnecessary logos or images, which also take time to load.

Remember, the survey should be a way to drive, not discourage, engagement so you can strengthen your CRM database. A well-designed mobile survey should convey the message that you in no way want to infringe upon your customers’ time or inconvenience them.

Get the Most from Your CRM

Today, successful businesses are putting the customer first. Using real-time customer feedback, they are able to deliver a more relevant, valuable, and targeted experience which keeps customers coming back for more.

Infusing your CRM with a feedback survey initiative is the most effective way to gain information about your customers, identify opportunities, and improve your overall relationships. With a survey-equipped CRM initiative in place, you will have all the information and tools you need to keep your customers happy and your business on the right track.